STAGE REVIEW : ‘Lion’ Plays It Straight, Silly at Moulton

James Goldman’s “The Lion in Winter” is a strange bird. With its often jarring shifts from serious to silly, it can be like a proper Shakespearean actor dropping his pants in the middle of a grim soliloquy or a vaudevillian reciting “Hamlet” while dousing his partner with seltzer.

At the Moulton Theatre, Laguna Playhouse director Marthella Randall goes for the yuks as much as the yipes in this play about family intrigue in the court of King Henry II. It’s clear early on that Randall sees this as a slicing and dicing satire on dad, mom and the kids when the auditorium is filled with nothing less than a fluted version of the “Leave It to Beaver” theme.

But “Lion,” despite its one-liners about dutiful sons who become dastardly sons, the joys of bountiful mistresses and the despotic pleasure of being boss (i.e. king), is more than half sober: The family intrigue here is of the murderous stripe.

Tapping both of the play’s elements can be as challenging as a high-wire act in the wind. Fortunately, there aren’t many missteps at the Moulton; this is a mostly nimble production that only wavers when the acting becomes too stagy and the direction seems rushed.

Still, enjoying Goldman’s play, and this working of it, really will depend upon your tastes. It is fairly broad and bears only a glimmering resemblance to history. If you don’t mind that, you may find it a kick. But if you prefer less Liz and more Elizabeth in your English theater, you’re apt to be disappointed.

Richard the Lion-Hearted (Jeffrey B. Schlichter) returns to the castle (Walter B. Huntoon’s multilevel, stony set is nicely conceived) from sanguinary campaigns abroad to find his two brothers, the cunning Geoffrey (Timothy Constant) and the incompetent John (Steven Shults), planning to steal the old man’s throne. He happily throws in with them and finds that his mother, Queen Eleanor (Patricia Collins), is the key schemer.

King Henry (Douglas Rowe) may play the stooge, but he knows just what’s going on. He cleverly tries to outguess his manipulative progeny in a labyrinthine game of subterfuge: Alliances are made and shattered in moments as Henry promises his throne to John, then to Richard, then John again. Only Geoffrey is overlooked--which does not sit well with the nasty adventurer. Everyone carries a knife, and not just for cleaning his fingernails. As Eleanor tells the audience with a big smirk: “It’s 1183, and we’re all barbarians.”

The top barbarian, Rowe’s king, has grown complacent, even bored, with power but still can turn savagely imperial when he has to. This fellow has lusts--just check out how he eyes his pretty consort (Debbie Grattan)--and enough fire to take on any man. Or woman.

As his chief foe, the one who moves his sons like pawns across a game board, Collins’ Eleanor is all guile and strength. She has charm, no doubt, but also a ruthless, acid edge that creates danger wherever she goes. Her only apparent weakness, and it’s a crippling one, is her love for Henry.

Constant and Schlichter offer credible portraits of Geoffrey and Richard, but Shults has trouble with John. As the squalling, spoiled youngest son (the king’s favorite), Shults is allowed to be noisy and unattractive. But at times, he takes all this misbehaving too far. “THE LION IN WINTER”

A Laguna Playhouse production of John Goldman’s play. Directed by Marthella Randall. With Douglas Rowe, Debbie Grattan, Steven Shults, Timothy Constant, Jeffrey B. Schlichter, Patricia Collins and Ken Perkins. Set by Walter B. Huntoon. Lighting by Stephen Shaffer. Costumes by Jennifer Anderson. Original score by Mark Turnbull. Plays Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. through March 27 at 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Tickets: $11 to $13. (714) 661-2201.